Saturday, January 24, 2009

All the Rage

As, I imagine, every single Australian has done at least once in their life I got stuck watching Rage last night until 3.30 in the morning. Rage is an all-night music program that runs from around 11pm until some time in the late morning. It plays all sorts of great and not-so-great music, features guest programmers and special theme nights. Occasionally they feature Countdown episodes though, which are a total treat. Countdown itself was another ABC music program that featured the latest hottest music videos, live in house performances (including everyone from The Uncanny X-Men to Divine, no kidding) and countdowns of the music charts from all over the world. It ran from 1874 - 1987, but remains a vital fixture in the landscape of Australian music to this very day.

"Last night I experience the greatest rock and roll concert I have ever experienced ... Last night in front of 20,000 at the Civic Auditorium people I saw Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band put on a concert of rock and roll that just left everyone breathless" - Amen Molly Meldrum!

Rage was kind enough to program the episode from September 30th, 1984 last night, and what an episode it was! To just further prove why the 1980s were the greatest decade known to mankind, some of the video clips they featured were:

Unfortunately Prince and Cyndi Lauper are unable to attend this party right now, but these five are still amazing. And, by the way, the songs by Phil Oakey (of Human League) and Helen Terry are both from the soundtrack to a 1984 movie I had never of called Electric Dreams, which I absolutely MUST see. If these are on the soundtrack then it can't be all bad. Plus, the plot is described as "a love triangle between a man, a woman, and a personal computer" so what could go wrong? NOTHING!

The top ten countdown for that week was:10. Pointer Sisters, "Jump" (literally brilliant)9. ZZ Top, "Legs" (absolutely brilliant)8. Dan Hartman, "I Can Dream About You" (well...)7. Stevie Wonder, "I Just Called to Say I Love You" (how brilliantly retro, an Oscar winner in the top ten!)6. Bruce Springsteen, "Dancing in the Dark" (by far one of the most brilliant songs ever recorded)5. John Waite, "Missing" (surprisingly very brilliant)4. U2, "Pride" (it's U2, okay)3. Tina Turner, "What's Love Got to Do With It?" (the epitome of brilliant)2. Ray Parker Jr, "Ghostbusters" (very very brilliant, but not as brilliant as "I Want a New Drug" by the brilliant Huey Lewis & The News)1. George Michael, "Careless Whisper (brilliant, duh)

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